The Image of the Public Relations Profession in the Print Media,
1980-1989
Jesús Meza
Doctoral Student School of Journalism and Mass Communication
University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
Mail: 211 Conner Dr. Apt. 22 Chapel Hill, NC 27514
(919) 969-2605 [email protected]
Open Division AEJMC Southeast Colloquium
Columbia, S.C. March 8-10, 2001
Public Relations, 1980-1989 - 2
ABSTRACT
Although public relations has been a controversial subject for the print media as
far back as the early 1900s, there have been few studies that have addressed the
profession’s media image. This study examines how the print media portrayed the public
relations field from 1980 through 1989. Using the words “public relations and
practitioners” and “public relations and profession” in an on-line search via the Lexis-
Nexis Academic Universe, 58 such articles were obtained from three American
newspapers: The New York Times, the Washington Post, and The Los Angeles Times. A
content analysis resulted in three coded groups: favorable, unfavorable and neutral.
General findings revealed the overall public relations print image as favorable
(24.1%), unfavorable (46.5%) and neutral (29.3%). In the study’s breakdown of
characterizations, “favorable” and “neutral” characterizations included three portrayals:
like any other profession (20.7%); as an advertising, communication, publicity, or image
profession (20.7%); and as a business with economic or political power or influence
(12.1%). “Unfavorable” included four portrayals, as: deceptive (24%); immature, weak or
superficial (12%); discriminatory (7%), and intimidating, harassing, or conflicting
(3.5%). A significant number of the unfavorable articles were written not by journalists,
but by public relations practitioners themselves. If this is still the case in a suggested
follow-up study, responsibility for correcting the public relations’ unfavorable image
should be assigned to the public relations practitioners.
Public Relations, 1980-1989 - 3
The Image of the Public Relations Profession in the Print Media,
1980-1989
Introduction
Since the start of the 1900s, the term “public relations” has assumed the
unofficial status of a profession, granting it a certain amount of respectability, while at
the same time making it vulnerable to oversight and criticism, and opening it up to
questions about its practitioners’ behaviors, especially in the print media. Even now, at
the beginning of the twenty-first century, the relationship between public relations people
and journalists is still ambiguous.
At first, several factors encouraged journalists to go into the public relations
field. Among these factors were: changes in the newspaper business that adversely
affected the careers of many journalists, the growth of giant corporations, greater
attention to public opinion, and a new corporate need to communicate with more
audiences.1 Singly, and in combination, these factors adversely affected the careers of
many journalists. In fact, generally, the early public relations practitioners were former
newspapermen who faced the decision to switch professions, but in doing so, created a
connection that resulted in an ambivalent relationship between the public relations
practitioners and the journalists. As Hallahan wrote, “Journalism and public relations are
inextricably a love-hate relationship.”2
Early on, journalists accused public relations practitioners of manipulating the
mass media to favor business interests.3 For decades, public relations practitioners have
not been able to erase that early negative image. Some public relations practitioners have
evaded those accusations and have even been unwilling to face the image question,
sometimes using other terms to describe their profession, like “public communication” or
1 Alan R Raucher, “Public Relations in business: a business of public relations,” Public Relations Review, (Fall 1990): 19. 2 Kirk Hallahan, “Public relations and the circumvention of the press,” Public Relations Quarterly (Summer 1994): 17. 3 Raucher, “Public Relations in business.”
Public Relations, 1980-1989 - 4
“public affairs.”4 Others have tried to create a new code of ethics,5 eliminate the
“pernicious habit” of using the nickname “PR” because of its confusing meaning,6 or
challenge any “critical comment” made by media people or by acquaintances and
business contacts.7
Traditionally, public relations practitioners have helped their clients improve their
image, by using the mass media as a principal tool of their communication campaigns
aimed at external audiences. To create, change, or reinforce a certain public image is part
of the public relations practitioners’ mission. However, these practitioners have not
entirely succeeded—neither in canceling out the negative perception of public relations,
nor in creating a favorable image. Meanwhile, the public relations field has increased in
its presence and influence over time, and the public relations career has achieved a degree
of acceptance. Trapped in this in-between status, this issue continues to be discussed, and
a conclusion has yet to be reached.8 The purpose of this paper, therefore, is to frame the
popular press’ projected image of the public relations profession in the 1980s.
The public relations profession can be divided roughly into three time periods: its
origins in the beginnings of the 1900s, its greatest advancement in the 1950s, and its
special development and diversification in the 1980s, a period during which the public
relations field, stimulated by Reaganomics, experienced its third great surge.
This study narrows the examination to the question of how print media covered
the public relations field and portrayed the profession from 1980 through 1989.
Specifically, this paper seeks to answer the following research questions: (a) How was
the general image of the public relations profession presented in the print media during
the 1980s, and (b) What did the print media articles specify as characterizations of the
public relations field.
4 E.W. Brody, “We must act now to redeem PR’s reputation,” Public Relations Quarterly, (Fall 1992): 42 5 Susan Fry Bovet, “The burning question of ethics: the profession fights for better business practices,” Public Relations Journal, November 1993, 24 6 Sam Black, “I am proud to be in public relations,” Public Relations Quarterly, (Summer 1993): 45 7 Jim Pritchitt, “If image is linked to reputation and reputation to increased use, shouldn’t we do something about ours?,” Public Relations Quarterly, (Fall 1992): 45 8 Black, “I am proud to be in public relations.”
Public Relations, 1980-1989 - 5
Although this paper will contribute to the analysis of the image of the public
relations profession in the print media during the 1980s, its scope will obviously be
limited. Beyond the capacity of this study, therefore, there will remain a need for a full
investigation of the relationship of the general media coverage to audience perceptions of
the public relations field.
Media coverage of public relations: Earlier studies
Only five previous studies were found that addressed the mass media’s image of
public relations practitioners. A study by Cline (1982) is related to mass communication
textbooks; one by Keenan (1996) is related to television, and three by Bishop, Spicer,
and Henderson. (1988, 1993, and 1998 respectively) are related to newspapers. Although
two studies were found that related to the image of advertising practitioners in the mass
media,9 they do not address the perception of the public relations practitioner or the
profession as a whole.
A study by Cline analyzed the public relations image as portrayed in nine mass
communication textbooks, all but one published after 1978. Her study explored the
relationship between advertising and public relations, the history of public relations, and
the expressed attitude of the textbooks toward public relations. Cline concluded that the
negative image of public relations in textbooks would have consequences for future
professionals: “If the public relations educators are willing to allow the propaganda to go
unchecked, we must resign ourselves to another generation which views public relations
as less ethical, less professional—but better-paying—than journalism, the profession
responsible for Jimmy’s World and the Washington Post’s Ear.”10
In another study, Keenan looked at network television news coverage of public
relations. He examined how the three major broadcast television networks (ABC, CBS,
9 Linda M. Maddox, “The Image of the Advertising Practitioner as Presented in the Mass Media, 1900-1972,” American Journalism 2 (1985): 117-129; Kevin L. Keenan, “Television News Coverage of Advertising: An exploratory Census of Content,” in Charles S. Madden (ed.), Proceedings of the 1995 Conference of the American Academy of Advertising, (Waco, TX: American Academy of Advertising, 1995), 174-180. 10 Carolyn Cline, The Image of Public Relations in Mass Comm Texts,” Public Relations Review 8 (1982): 71.
Public Relations, 1980-1989 - 6
and NBC) treated public relations, from 1980 through 1995. Keenan reached a tentative
conclusion, pointing out that “network television’s coverage is more objective and less
antagonistic toward public relations than coverage in the print media.”11
Three studies that have looked at the issue of how the print media cover public
relations include one by Bishop, one by Spice, and one by Henderson. Bishop, who
conducted an electronic content analysis of three American newspapers over a one-month
period (June 1987),12 concluded that, in general, the majority of those stories were
favorable in tone. He noted that “we can take comfort in the findings that publicity is
generally considered beneficial. The only heavy negative for society occurred in the legal
category, and much of that was due to three cases of pre-trial publicity.”13
Christopher Spicer conducted a study about media content both in newspapers
and magazines.14 He found that the majority (83 %) of print items portrayed a negative
image of public relations. Spicer pointed out the negative attitudes of reporters and
editors toward the public relations profession.15
In 1998, Henderson conducted an analysis of 100 articles that appeared from 1995
to 1996 to look “at the way public relations is used in the popular press.” She analyzed
the connotative meaning of the term “public relations” as used in those articles, the
accuracy of that meaning, and the person who used the term. Henderson found a heavily
negative connotation in the use of the term and concluded that “this does not bode well
11 Kevin L. Keenan, “Network Television News Coverage of Public Relations: An Exploratory Census of Content,” Public Relations Review 22 (1996): 228. 12 The newspapers were the following: the St. Petersburg (FL) Times, the Seattle (WA) Times, and the Little Rock Arkansas Gazette. Bishop found no mention of the term “public relations” in more than 16,000 stories. When he expanded his study to include the term “publicity,” he found 121 mentions. 13 Robert L. Bishop, “What Newspapers Say About Public relations in the Print Media,” Public Relations
Review 14 (1988): 51. 14 Christopher H. Spicer, “Images of Public Relations in the Print Media,” Journal of Public Relations
Research 5 (1993): 47-61. 15 The method used was based on an analysis of 84 examples, which included both terms public relations and PR. In his findings, Spicer established seven categories: distraction, disaster, challenge, hype, merely, war, and schmooze. The author stated that six of those seven categories identified were considered to be in some degree negative or unfavorable (corresponding to 83% of the examples), while just one was neutral or positive (17% of the items). The terms public relations and PR were subjectively defined as embedded in the print media by those seven categories. Thus, there was some evidence that the negative attitude of journalists influenced their use of those terms.
Public Relations, 1980-1989 - 7
for the profession. Consistent with surveys of journalists, the implication is that they have
a negative impression of the profession.”16
Although literature on this issue is scarce, the general picture of how the print
media has presented the public relations profession is one of clear negative connotation,
whereas the picture of television coverage has been less negative. It is possible, and
perhaps even probable, that the former ties and close relationships between the print
journalists and the public relations practitioners could be partially responsible for the
print media’s more negative perception or at least their ambivalence.
Color of images: how the print media portrayed the profession
The present study involved both an on-line search via the Lexis-Nexis Academic
Universe, and a content analysis of articles related to public relations in three American
newspapers: The New York Times, The Washington Post, and the Los Angeles Times.
These publications were somewhat arbitrarily selected as being representative of the
media business and public relations professional activities in three principal US cities.
Although a first on-line search of this study found hundreds of articles published
between 1980 and 1989 that mentioned public relations,17 the final selection consisted of
only 58 items. This narrowing down resulted from hewing to the specific purpose of the
study, namely to analyze just those articles talking about the image of public relations
practitioners or of public relations as a profession. The 58 articles selected included only
those with the words “public relations and practitioners” and “public relations and
profession.”18 Of the 58 items from the three newspapers mentioned above, the largest
16 Julie K. Henderson, “Negative connotations in the use of the term ‘public relations’ in the print media,” Public Relations Review (Spring 1998): 55. 17 In this first search, the database gave results from 56 newspapers, 42 from the U.S. and 14 from other countries. Using the keyword “public relations,” the software located the following numbers of articles cited by year: 492 in 1980; 807 in 1981; 779 in 1982; 847 in 1983; 1,102 in 1984; 1,720 in 1985; 2,111 in 1986; 2,358 in 1987; 2,394 in 1988; and 3,612 in 1989. For comparison, 8,242 articles were found in 1999 and more than 2,400 in the first four months of the year 2000. 18 The path to conduct this search is as follows: once connected to Lexis-Nexis, select “News” and then “General News.” In the keyword, write “public relations AND practitioner.” The source is “Major newspapers,” from 1980 to 1989. The search retrieves 43 documents; among these, just 16 are from the three newspapers selected. The next step follows the same directions for the keyword “public relations AND profession.” It retrieves 68 documents; 45 are from the selected newspapers.
Public Relations, 1980-1989 - 8
number appeared in 1989. This may mean that the issue has gained importance in the
later period, a point that may be worthy of consideration for future research.
Titles, dates, and bylines of the 58 articles were analyzed for the purpose of this
paper.19 All the 58 articles were coded as favorable, unfavorable, or neutral toward
public relations as a profession. Coded as favorable were 14 items, or 24 %, which fitted
into Henderson’s category of “Public Relations Used Correctly”:
This category includes citations in which “public relations” was judged to be used correctly in the sense that the Public Relations Society of America and other leaders in the public relations field define the term. These definitions usually include these elements: public relations contributes to mutual understanding among groups; develops relationships with publics; is a management function; acts in a counseling, mediating, translator function; involves two-way communication.20 Also included as favorable were articles that portrayed any public relations
practitioner or leader with a tone of respect or admiration, or that listed, explained or
analyzed favorably the public relations’ achievements or life in general. Any story about
the development of the profession itself was considered favorable.
Articles suggesting that public relations was related to or associated with
negativity such as deceit, fraud, cheating, trickery, amorality, manipulation,
superficiality, weakness, or immaturity, as well as articles suggesting any pejorative
connotation were classified as unfavorable. Table 1 shows that twenty-seven items (46.5
%) fall into this category.
Neutral articles (29.3 %) were those that portrayed the public relations with
neither favorable nor unfavorable definitions, or that treated it like any other profession,
without additional connotation. Generally, these articles had no more reference to the
profession than just the mention of public relations. Articles that had a balance of both
positive and negative aspects and could not be classified as either unfavorable or
favorable were considered neutral.
19 Initially, the total articles were 61, but the search resulted in the 58 articles because three of them were repeated. 20 Henderson, “Negative connotations,” 48.
Public Relations, 1980-1989 - 9
Table 1
Number of articles by year and number and percentage of categorization
Year Articles Favorable Unfavorable Neutral 1980 3 2 1 0 1981 5 2 3 0 1982 7 3 2 2 1983 4 0 1 3 1984 4 1 0 3 1985 7 2 4 1 1986 6 0 2 4 1987 3 2 0 1 1988 9 1 7 1 1989 10 1 7 2
Totals: 58 (100%) 14 (24.1%) 27 (46.5%) 17 (29.3%)
Positive images: good news . . . .
Public relations as a profession was portrayed favorably by the print media in just
24 % of articles during the 1980s. This study found that 14 articles fit into the category of
favorable coverage. These 14 articles used the “correct” meaning of public relations and
included some elements of its definition as: the contribution to mutual understanding
among groups, improving communication with audiences, and/or functioning as a
management profession. Also, articles that presented an image of development, respect,
or admiration fell into this category. An example of this would be a story that appeared in
print when the Public Relations Society of America was in the process of re-structuring
its management in 1981. This article reported that Judith S. Bogart, then the Society’s
secretary, had been nominated as president-elect: “That puts her in line to become
president in 1983, the first woman to hold the office in a decade and only the second in
the history of the organization, which was chartered in 1947. It now has more than 10,000
members and bills itself as ‘the world’s largest professional society for public relations
practitioners.’”21
21 Eric Pace, “Advertising; Women In Public Relations,” New York Times, 11 September 1981, sec. D, 11.
Public Relations, 1980-1989 - 10
It seems that the first years of Reaganomics were an optimistic era for the public
relations field. Newspapers reported many changes, growth, new functions, and so on
within the profession. In 1982, The New York Times published a letter from James K.
Carroll, who complained about an article that had appeared two weeks before.22 In this
story, Carroll defended public relations’ role for the years ahead and explained the
situation at that moment: “PR today is changing, becoming increasingly specialized,
scientific, and accountable. In 1980, the term “Corporate Communications” replaced PR
as the favored term among the largest companies for their communications
departments.”23
Three years later, in 1985, Julian Myers agreed that these changes, particularly the
explosive growth of the public relations profession, were taking place: “During the five
years I have been teaching entertainment PR for UCLA Extension I have seen the size of
my classes double. Moreover, large numbers of middle-aged people, mostly women, have
determined to make complete life changes to get into this calling.”24 Myers noted that
although the employment rate was growing in this field, the volume of aspirants was far
greater than the available jobs.
Public relations was well covered in the 1980s, in the business, legal, and political
fields. Half of the 14 favorable articles in this study were related to business or politics.
In 1980, for example, one article reporting about the death of an apparently solid-citizen,
Charles Frederick Moore, Jr., gave a favorable portrayal of him as a professional of the
public relations field:
A public relations man by profession, Mr. Moore was a politician by avocation, and he was active on local, state and national levels. He served briefly as a special consultant to President Dwight D. Eisenhower in 1953 and 1954 and held local office in Orleans, Mass., where he had lived since retiring from Ford in 1963. He was a Republican, a 1925 graduate of Dartmouth College who was notably active
22 Jack Bernstein wrote the article referred to. This article was also selected as one of the 58 articles of this study; it was categorized as unfavorable. See Jack Bernstein, “Why P.R. Gets Flak,” New York Times, 3 January 1982, sec. 3, 2. 23 James K. Carroll, “More flak,” New York Times, 17 January 1982, sec. 3, 4. 24 Julian F. Myers, “Despite Boom, Applicants Far Outnumber Jobs in PR,” Los Angeles Times, 31 March 1985, sec. Business, 3.
Public Relations, 1980-1989 - 11
in alumni affairs, a farmer on Cape Cod like his father before him, and a baseball fan.25 Other favorable articles discuss the good earnings, salary increases, greater
demand for foreign image-making, high budgets, and new projects in the public relations
profession. One story read: “Washington’s peculiar brand of PR is booming the way the
legal business here did a decade ago. In some instances, PR firms are performing
lobbying tasks that used to be carried out by the city’s high-powered law firms – which
are beginning to use PR firms to boost their images, too.”26
These favorable articles also included much material about new public relations
firms, mergers, or business migration to the suburbs. Interviews with public relations
people, or publication of some of their profiles was usual. A story about journalists going
into the field of public relations, appearing in 1987, described two former business
editors of the Gannett/Westchester Rockland Newspapers Group:
“The quality of the releases we were getting from PR firms drove us to do it,” Geoffrey Thompson said when asked why he and Mr. Bender decided to forsake journalism for public relations. “Seriously,” he continued, “I thought on and off about going into PR for several years. As someone in daily contact with the business community, who is constantly appalled at the low quality of the releases put out by the best companies. But the real catalyst was my age. I was 39, some 17 years with Gannett. Clearly if I was ever going to live out the fantasy of having my own business I had to move. And I figured who had a better in-depth knowledge of the area’s business and real-estate community than two guys with a combined 30 years of news media experience.”27 Coincidentally, in the same county two years later, a group of public relations
people created an executive network of 50 members who gathered monthly and
participated in three workshops, “two business-oriented and one personal”:
“The recently formed Westchester Executive Network was created to enhance communications among people in all professions,” said Christine Hyler, who founded the organization with Kathryn White, owner of the Bancroft Group, a PR
25 Washington Post, “Charles Frederick Moore Jr., Ex-Promotion Chief at Post,” 12 November 1980, sec. Metro, C7. 26 Washington Post, “PR Gets Entrenched as A Washington Business,” 18 February 1985, sec. Washington Business, 1. 27 Penny Singer, “Professional Services for Business,” New York Times, 27 September 1987, sec. 11WC, 12.
Public Relations, 1980-1989 - 12
company in Peekskill. The group, which, despite its name, is not for executives only, aims to cut across professional boundaries among workers in a variety of fields and to help them establish new business contacts.28 All 14 favorable articles were classified under three characterizations, regarding
their portrayal of public relations: (a) as like any other profession, with connotations of
professionalism, respectfulness, or seriousness (six articles); (b) as an advertising,
communication, publicity or image profession (three articles); and (c) as a business, with
economic or political power or influence (five articles). A breakdown of each type of
characterization of all 58 articles is shown in Table 2.
The boldest color of these images: bad news . . . .
Even though the public relations field grew greatly during this period, the 1980s
were not a time when newspapers presented only favorable coverage of this profession.
Instead, this analysis found that almost half of the coverage (47 %) was unfavorable.
Among the 27 articles categorized as unfavorable were those that portrayed the field in a
demeaning or pejorative way, as well as those that gave the impression of public relations
as a deceptive profession, or that questioned its ethics in any way.
A former spokesman for President Reagan, Larry Speakes, was a central figure in
one of the most controversial articles about public relations in the 1980s. In 1988, in his
book, Speaking Out, Speakes said that quotes and remarks that he had attributed to
Reagan in the White House were actually made not by the President, but by others,
including Secretary of State George Shultz and Speakes himself. Ron Rogers, president
of Rogers & Asociates, a Los Angeles-based public relations firm, cited this story: “The
flap triggered by these disclosures prompted Speakes’ resignation from his $250,000-a-
year job as spokesman for Merrill Lynch & Co. More important, the Speakes affair has
raised pointed questions about the ethical standards and practices of some in the PR
industry.”29
28 Lynne Ames, “Executive Network Seeks Business Ties,” New York Times, 5 March 1989, sec. 12WC, 24. 29 Ron Rogers, “Viewpoints; Speakes’ transgressions tarnish PR professional,” Los Angeles Times, 24 April 1988, sec. Business, 3.
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Rogers’ article was just one among the 27 articles that were found to contain
unfavorable coverage of the public relations profession. It is an interesting coincidence
that Speakes’ story took place in 1988. In this year and the following year together,
during the end of President Reagan’s second term and the end time period of this study,
the greatest number of unfavorable articles (14) were published (see Table 1).
In order to examine this unfavorable coverage, the present study conducted a
critical analysis of the four characterizations that were found in unfavorable articles,
regarding their portrayal of public relations: (a) as a deceptive profession (14 articles);
(b) as an immature, weak or superficial profession (seven articles); (c) as a discriminatory
profession (four articles); and (d) as an intimidating, harassing or conflicting profession
(two articles). Although it seems that there were fewer unfavorable characterizations than
favorable and neutral ones, the fact is that almost half of all characterizations were
unfavorable and, individually, one of the unfavorable categorizations (“as a deceptive
profession”) contained the most examples of all (see Table 2 below).
Table 2
Characterizations of articles, 58 (100%)
Favorable or neutral Articles A. As like any other profession 12 (20.7 %) B. As an advertising, communication, publicity or image profession 12 (20.7 %) C. As a business, with economic or political power or influence 7 (12.1 %)
Total: 31 (53.5 %)
Unfavorable Articles D. As a deceptive profession 14 (24 %) E. As an immature, weak or superficial profession 7 (12 %) F. As a discriminatory profession 4 (7 %) G. As an intimidating, harassing or conflicting profession 2 (3.5 %)
Total: 27 (46.5 %)
Articles portraying public relations as a deceptive profession presented a context
in which the connotations of words gave an unfavorable image of the field. These articles
created the impression that public relations “must” or “should” use deceit,
misrepresentations, stratagems or tricks in order to “help” people or organizations
achieve some goals. In 1981, one journalist provided an example of this when she
Public Relations, 1980-1989 - 14
reported on the newly appointed Deputy Director for Operations, John H. Stein, who had
served for many years in the Central Intelligence Agency’s clandestine operations:
His name does not appear in newspaper clippings or in “Who’s who.” Even the announcement today by the C.I.A. of his promotion was unusual because agency appointments to jobs in what is known as “the black side,” or covert operations, are usually neither announced nor confirmed. The terse statement issued by the agency’s public relations office described Mr. Stein only as a “career C.I.A. official.”30 In another story, the American Medical Association (AMA) accused lawyers of
creating a “medical malpractice problem” which, according to the AMA, did not exist,
whereas the American Bar Association (ABA) and its president, John C. Shepherd,
argued that a malpractice crisis did exist. The unfavorable article describing this conflict
stated the declaration of one lawyer in the following terms: “‘The AMA is embarking on
a massive public relations campaign to brainwash the American public,’ said Charles
Kramer, a longtime plaintiffs’ malpractice lawyer in New York. ‘The way to solve this
crisis is for doctors to practice better medicine, not to reduce the rights of their
victims.’”31
In 1985, Steven Meyerowitz described the increasing use of brochures as a public
relations tool by many different types of businesses. This article began by illustrating
how medical brochures offer services that would be beneficial for their future business to
clients. Then, the article stated: “Lawyers and accountants have caught onto the same
trick. Small firms that never had any printed brochures are ordering them now. And large
firms that have had only general brochures in the past are printing new ones describing
specific areas of their practices and sending them, often unsolicited, to existing and
potential clients.”32
The references to specific unfavorable words or meanings in Meyerowitz’s article
were not an exception. The same year, an article was published that contained not only
30 Judith Miller, “Man in the News; New Deputy for C.I.A.,” New York Times, 15 July 1981, sec. A, 18. 31 David Margolick, “Medical Malpractice: Role of Lawyers,” New York Times, 21 February 1985, sec. A, 16. 32 Steven A. Meyerowitz, “Brochures That Define a Special Niche,” New York Times, 24 November 1985, sec. 3, 19.
Public Relations, 1980-1989 - 15
connotations but also direct meaning regarding the “persuasive” and “negative” function
of public relations. In a book review, Marjorie Marks discussed the book The Persuasion
Explosion, written by Art Stevens. Commenting on the book’s analysis of historical
public relations campaigns, she states:
For the rest of us, however, tales about the engineering of PR to affect our choices and beliefs can inspire the feeling that we are not altogether in control of our opinions; the power of persuasion as practiced by others on us has profoundly affected our sense of self-determination regarding even the most minor of matters. The choices we make about everything from who we choose to be our President to what we buy to feed our pets, we realize, are not made on the basis of our individual ingenuity but rather on criteria carefully selected and designed by others to elicit precisely the “choices” we ultimately make.33
Other articles that portrayed public relations as a manipulative profession made
use of words or phrases with unfavorable connotations, such as “crimes,” “ethical
problems,” “betraying the truth,” “trickery,” “lying,” “hacks,” “inaccurate,”
“misleading,” and “whitewash.”
In 1988, two cases emerged in which public relations practitioners sent letters to
the Los Angeles Times –one pleased about one story, and the other complaining about a
published article. Both of those letters fell into the unfavorable category, portraying the
profession as deceptive. Although Roger Beck, a veteran of 26 years as a professional
public relations counselor and a president of the Los Angeles Chapter of the Public
Relations Society of America, did not have this intention, his letter gave readers an
unfavorable impression of the practices of some people in the public relations profession.
In the first of the two paragraphs, Beck wrote:
Tom Hanscom, whom you describe in the June 27 Footnotes column as “a guy who’s handling a tough PR problem at the San Diego Wild Animal Park,” is really going to know what a tough public relations problem is when his colleagues learn of his unfortunate “tongue-in-cheek” remark that “Being an astute and long-practicing liar, I’ve found my natural place in public relations.”34
33 Marjorie Marks, “Book Review; Persuasive Primer for the PR Careerist,” Los Angeles Times, 13 December 1985, sec. View, 47. 34 Roger Beck, “Trip to the Moon,” Los Angeles Times, 31 July 1988, sec. Business, 5.
Public Relations, 1980-1989 - 16
Even though he argued, in the second paragraph, that he disagreed with Hanscom
and considered it unnecessary “to lie” in performing the public relations function, these
terms nevertheless placed this article in an unfavorable category.
In the second case, Sherman Oaks, a professional public relations practitioner
representing legal associations and law firms, congratulated the editor for a published
article related to the growth of public relations in the legal field. In the second paragraph
of his two-paragraph letter, he asserted:
However, I hope that the statement about law firms hiring “a public relations firm with price tags of $1,500 per press release” was a misprint. Not only will inflated figures like that frighten away 99 % of the law firms that might be even vaguely considering engaging in a program of marketing their legal services, but I can assure you that 99 % of the PR firms in this town could produce a press release announcing World War III or a cure for cancer for far less than $1,500.35
This quote implies that public relations practices will invent anything to obtain
money. Whether Oaks was joking or not, his article fits without a doubt under the first
unfavorable characterization of deceptive profession.
The second unfavorable characterization portrays the public relations profession
as immature, weak or superficial. In a 1982 article entitled “Why PR Gets Flak,” Jack
Bernstein began his story with a clearly unfavorable description of public relations as a
profession:
TIME magazine reported not long ago that Jorge Batista, the son of Cuba’s late dictator, who currently attends modeling school and works as a runway model at fashion shows, would like to rule the island one day. Failing that, he said, “perhaps I can do public relations.” And, if experience is any indicator, he probably will do public relations, that is.36
The next two paragraphs are even more critical. Bernstein makes a reference
regarding the superficiality of famous people in show business, sports, and social arenas
and their “talent” and relationship to the public relations profession. Although he is very
critical about the way in which this discipline has been portrayed, he puts the blame on
most of the profession’s practitioners. It is interesting to note that he is also president of
Jack Bernstein Associates, a public relations firm.
35 Sherman Oaks, “The Price of PR,” Los Angeles Times, 6 November 1988, sec. Business, p.3. 36 Jack Bernstein, “Why P.R. Gets Flak,” New York Times, 3 January 1982, sec. 3, 2.
Public Relations, 1980-1989 - 17
But Bernstein was not the only person who suggested that there were weaknesses
or immaturity in the public relations profession. Two more articles contributed to this
notion. In 1983, Jack Eisen sent a letter to The Washington Post and stated in the first
paragraph: “Syd Kasper, I’m ashamed of you. After all these years as one of
Washington’s premier PR practitioners in the federal and the private sectors, you haven’t
learned the differences between the ‘capital’ city and the ‘Capitol’ building.”37 Even
though that letter is directed to a particular person, it is the context and the connotation
that make that story fall into this characterization.
The second article suggested some immaturity in the profession as a whole. Its
first paragraph said: “ALTHOUGH the vogue in advertising is to speak of integrating
communications, practitioners of PR, direct marketing, and advertising tend to remain
apart, even antagonistic.”38
In 1988, a letter sent to the Los Angeles Times went beyond this notion and not
only portrayed some weaknesses in public relations, but even negated the possibility of
its being a profession. This letter becomes even more interesting when we realize that the
writer is also a public relations practitioner. In its second paragraph, the letter declared
about one published article: “I have but one bone to pick: A major problem with the
practice of PR is that it is NOT a profession – as much as the Public Relations Society of
America would like to see it called one.”39
The third unfavorable characterization is of public relations as a discriminatory
profession. Among the four articles in this classification, two were related to women
(1986) and two to minority hiring (1989). Don Oldenburg wrote about the annual Public
Relations Society of America conference, where one of the topics was the relationship
between the proportion of women in the field and salaries and job status. That report
argued that a higher proportion of women in the profession would produce lower salaries
37 Jack Eisen, “Public Relations, the Way it Is,” Washington Post, 29 May 1983, sec. Metro, B2. 38 Randall Rothenberg, “The Media Business: Advertising; Promotional Agency Gets A Crossover,” New
York Times, 1 September 1989, sec. D, 6. 39 C. Peter Davis, “Who Said That,” Los Angeles Times, 15 May 1988, sec. Business, 3.
Public Relations, 1980-1989 - 18
and status. The story stated: “Women in PR and business communications are
increasingly seen as communications ‘technicians’ rather than ‘managers.’”40
The second story related to women had the following title: “About Women:
Public Relations Field: ‘Velvet Ghetto.’” Janice Mall began her article explaining how
women are discriminated against when they break into a professional field and succeed.
The entire profession, she said, is then referred to as “female work.” Of course, wages
and status decrease. In the second paragraph of her article, she wrote: “According to a
new report released recently by the International Assn. of Business Communicators, the
field of PR and business communications is in danger of going the way of teaching,
nursing, and library science – fields with lower pay and prestige than professions with
comparable skills and education-- simply because the jobs are held predominantly by
women.”41
Two articles dealt with minority hiring and fell into this third category of
unfavorable portrayal as a discriminatory profession. These two articles are related, too,
because the second was in response to the first. In 1989, Bruce Horovitz began his article
in the following manner: “People who work in public relations spend most of their time
making everyone else look good. That is why it seems particularly peculiar that the
public relations field – of all professions – has managed to so badly mangle its own
image in one of the most sensitive areas of all: minority hiring.”42
Although he stated later that those concerns were from the Public Relations
Society of America and its president, John Paluszek, the story in general portrayed the
profession unfavorably. In response to this article, one month later, Sherman Oaks sent a
letter to the newspaper going further in the same direction: “The situation regarding the
abysmal representation of minorities in public relations is unfortunately true. But I resent
40 Don Oldenburg, “Women’s pay penalty; In Public Relations, $1 Million Per Career,” Washington Post, 12 November 1986, sec. Style, D5. 41 Janice Mall, “About Women: Public Relations field: ‘Velvet Ghetto,’” Los Angeles Times, sec. View, 8. 42 Bruce Horovitz “Marketing: Improving the PR Industry’s Image on Hiring; Trade Groups and Others Are Doing Something About Jobs For Minorities,” Los Angeles Times, 29 August 1989, sec. Business, 7.
Public Relations, 1980-1989 - 19
the implication that the fault lies with either the profession or its practitioners.”43 Again,
the author of this unfavorable story was himself a public relations practitioner.
In the last characterization of unfavorable articles, the fourth, two items were
considered to portray the field as an intimidating, harassing or conflicting. One was
published in 1982. It concerned the Reagan crackdown on legal aid and presented an
unfavorable and conflicting context:
The main legacy of the factionalized Reagan board, even some of the president’s supporters say, was a public-relations debacle, an appearance of flailing away relentlessly at a program for the poor that has broad Congressional and public support. But Mr. Reagan’s feud with legal aid lawyers is also a paradigm of the ideological hostility that divides the President and his allies from people they consider troublemakers.44
The second article was published in 1988. Paula Span wrote a story about the
Schmertz Company, owned by Herb Schmertz, one of the most visible and powerful
public relations practitioners in America, who led the communications area in Mobil Oil
for nearly 20 years. Span remembered some of Schmertz’s most important moments in
Mobil Oil and his tough relationship with the press:
Then there are those to whom Mobil was the Goliath with the $30-million war chest and the press the victim. Ed Rothschild was director of the consumer group Energy Action during some of its wilder tilts with Mobil and a source in some of the stories Schmertz got most exercised about. “He used his clout and authority to intimidate and harass the press,” Rothschild charges. “To some extent, it worked. There are a lot of stories that didn’t appear because Herb Schmertz was so tough and effective.45
Neutral images
The last part of this analysis includes the neutral category of articles that
portrayed public relations without favorable or unfavorable definitions. Basically, these
articles had no reference to the profession other than the mention of “public relations.”
43 Sherman Oaks, “Bruce Horovitz’ Story on Minorities in Public Relations Should Have Included All Colors,” Los Angeles Times, 1 October 1989, sec. Business, 3. 44 Stuart Taylor Jr. “Politics and Peaks Revive Reagan Fight On Legal Aid,” New York Times, 19 December 1982, sec. 4, 3. 45 Paula Span, “Chronicles of the PR Warrior; Retiring Mobil Oil VP Herb Schmertz, Looking Back at His Press Battles,” Washington Post, 28 April 1988, sec. Style, C1.
Public Relations, 1980-1989 - 20
The 1980s presented an era of more neutral than favorable coverage for public
relations, although there is not a big difference between the number for the two (see
Table 1). The 17 articles (29 %) that were found to be neutral made some reference to
public relations in a general way. In 1982, three articles were published that mentioned
the public relations profession much as they might mention any other. An article about a
New York high school program said: “Students could sign for two of the nine career
opportunity presentations by the companies in addition to attending workshops at which
experts spoke about such fields as engineering, marketing and public relations, law,
finance and insurance in energy-related companies.”46
Some articles mentioned the phrase “public relations” in ways that had almost
nothing to do with the principal story. One article, relating to a businessmen-jazz
musicians group from New York who was going to play in France read: “ ‘The two-night
concert is being sponsored by the Comite Interprofessionel des Vins Doux Naturels,’ said
Leslie Lieber, the founder of ‘Jazz at Noon,’ who is a public-relations consultant and
plays alto saxophone and pennywhistle.”47
Other articles published information that referred to the financial aspects of the
public relations business: “Robert K. Gray, founder of Gray & Company, the largest
public relations firm in Washington, will soon take his company public through an initial
offering of $5.4 million in stock.”48
From 1985 to 1989, there were several articles with a fair balance of opinion that
made it impossible to classify them into the favorable or unfavorable categories. The last
articles of this category merely mentioned the phrase “public relations” without any other
reference to the field (e.g.,“These dogs, of course, are just a sampling of Westchester’s
entries at Westminster. Thelma Boalbey, public relations director for the Westminster
46 Elizabeth M. Fowler, “Careers; Luring Youth Into Energy,” New York Times, 13 January 1982, sec. D, 17. 47 New York Times, “Noon Band Set for Tour in France,” 16 July 1983, 13. 48 Daniel F. Cuff, “Business people; Capital Practitioner of Public Relations,” New York Times, 23 January 1984, sec. D., 2.
Public Relations, 1980-1989 - 21
Kennel Club in Manhattan, estimates that ‘at least 150’ dogs will be from Westchester
and Putnam Counties. Westchester is big dog country,” Ms. Boalbey said.”)49
Finally, all 17 neutral articles do contain this characterization because they
portrayed the public relations field as they would have portrayed any other profession
(without specification), as a communication or information field, or simply as a business
(without any other characteristic). Neutral articles were classified as (a) as like any other
profession, without any connotation (six articles); (b) as an advertising, communication,
publicity or image profession (nine articles); and (c) as a business (two articles).
Conclusion
The overall general image of the public relations profession portrayed by the
print media from 1980 through 1989 was unfavorable. This study found that 46.5 % of
the coverage was unfavorable, whereas just 24.1 % favorable. That means that there was
almost twice as much unfavorable coverage as favorable. Tentatively, we can say that
this study adds strength to the argument that coverage of public relations by the print
media was generally antagonistic.
This study also reveals that, although the general image the print media presented
of public relations as a profession was unfavorable, most of the specific characterizations
made by print articles were favorable or neutral. Those articles portrayed the field: as
they would have portrayed any other profession (20.7 %); as an advertising,
communication, publicity or image profession (20.7 %); and as a business, with
economic or political power or influence (12.1 %).
On the other hand, this study found four unfavorable characterizations of the
public relations profession. The field was portrayed by the print media: as deceptive (24
%); as immature, weak or superficial (12 %); as discriminatory (7 %); and as
intimidating, harassing or conflictive (3.5 %). In this sense, print media did make fewer
unfavorable characterizations (46.5 %) than favorable and neutral characterizations
combined (53.5 %). Nevertheless, the most common single characterization of public
relations was as a deceptive profession (24 %).
49 Lynne Ames, “Westchester Weekly Desk,” New York Times, sec. 11WC, 28.
Public Relations, 1980-1989 - 22
As a final note, it was quite intriguing to see that a significant number of the
unfavorable articles were written not by “practicing” journalists, but by public relations
practitioners themselves. This means that much of the responsibility for causing the
public relations’ image problem during the 1980-1989 time period rests not with
journalists, but with public relations practitioners. A new study embracing the time
period between this study’s analysis period (1980-1989) and the present date (2001)
should examine whether the public relations image has improved. If not, and if the
“blame” can still be assigned to the public relations practitioners, it would seem that
much of the responsibility for correcting the public relations’ unfavorable image should
be assigned to the public relations practitioners. To paraphrase the well-known proverb
(New Testament, Luke 4-23) related to physicians, “Public relations practitioners, heal
thyselves.”
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